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Sponsorship

Sponsorships are important, especially in gymnastics. Some events are non-profit organizations so the organizers depend heavily on sponsors. Sponsorship can deliver benefits to both the event as well as the company doing the sponsoring. The event can create brand awareness, building of the brand and create brand purchase or the leaning towards. The event needs the sponsorship to survive. The support that is received helps anyone who wants to follow their dreams in gymnastics become a reality.

Due to the exposure of the event, companies received a lot or marketing and advertising at the events. At times a company’s reasons for sponsorship are selfless. They just want to create goodwill and an inclination to help in the community or the person in need. In most cases, sponsorship is used to get a benefit from the associations created for a company’s brand or image as a result of the sponsorship.

If an individual shows true potential a company may want to sponsor them directly. Sponsorship can be asked for but the person does have to prove themselves, perhaps get a letter from their coach and show their track record in the sport.

In order to prove themselves to a company for sponsorship they will need to show themselves as a good marketing asset. For example, when McKayla Maroney during the 2012 Olympic Games in London fell and won silver instead of gold, her facial expression was captured and the internet exploded with meme’s of that expression. This has now become her trade mark and has a picture posing with the US President Obama pulling the same face. She has used the incident to create more publicity around her and as a result, her sponsors too.

Showing how valuable they are to the company is another way to get great sponsors. Company brands love loyalty and therefore if a company invests in someone or sponsors them, they usually do it for a long period of time. The company will them stay in contact with the sponsored person. Showing interest in other thing besides the sport also allows publicity to branch out and create hype around the person. Therefore, companies pay attention to those athletes.

Keeping up with social media and being positive is very important. A young Muslim gymnast was shunned in her culture because of her leotard. She received amazing support from the community and her fans and dealt with the situation very gracefully on social media. This story has created massive publicity around her and the issues about dress code and religion in sport. Any sponsor will get behind this gymnast.

To understand the different levels of sponsorship means that in the beginning athletes will just receive free stuff like clothing or shoes but as the reputation of the athlete grows they can expect to receive small compensation amount for different things like a photo in magazine. Other things they may receive is a travel stipend for things like travel money or filming mission for competition. The last stage is for fully endorsed athletes. They will receive many things to help them with the career such as gear. They will also receive yearly salaries.